A U.S. judge had ruled that Israeli spyware maker NSO Group breached hacking laws by using WhatsApp to stealthily infect devices with its Pegasus spyware.In a historic ruling on Friday, a Northern California federal judge held NSO Group liable for targeting the devices of 1,400 WhatsApp users, violating state and federal hacking laws as well as WhatsApps terms of service, which prohibit the use of the messaging platform for malicious purposes.The ruling comes five years after Meta-owned WhatsApp sued NSO Group, alleging the spyware outfit had exploited an audio-calling vulnerability in the messaging platform to install its Pegasus spyware on unsuspecting users devices. WhatsApp said that more than 100 human rights defenders, journalists, and other members of civil society were targeted by the malware, along with government officials and diplomats.In her ruling, Judge Phyllis Hamilton said NSO did not dispute that it must have reverse-engineered and/or decompiled the WhatsApp software in order to install its Pegasus spyware on devices, but raised questions about whether it had done so before agreeing to WhatsApps terms of service.However, the judge said that common sense dictates that [NSO] must have first gained access to WhatsApp and said NSO had offered no plausible explanation for how it could have done so without agreeing to the terms of service.Hamilton also said NSO had repeatedly failed to produce relevant discovery, including the Pegasus source code, despite a court order requiring that it be turned over. She said NSO also refused to produce internal communications, including communications about WhatsApp vulnerabilities.NSOs lack of compliance with discovery orders raises serious concerns about their transparency and willingness to cooperate with the judicial process, the judge said.In a statement given to TechCrunch, Meta spokesperson Emily Westcott said WhatsApp welcomes Fridays ruling.NSO can no longer avoid accountability for their unlawful attacks on WhatsApp, journalists, human rights activists, and civil society, she said. With this ruling, spyware companies should be on notice that their illegal actions will not be tolerated. Were proud to have stood up against NSO and thankful to the many organizations that were supportive of this case. WhatsApp will never stop working to protect peoples private communication.Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, described the ruling as a huge win for privacy in a post on X.NSO spokesperson Gil Lainer declined to comment. NSO had previously argued that Pegasus helps law enforcement and intelligence agencies fight crime and protect national security.The landmark case will now proceed to a trial in March 2025, where a jury will decide on the damages NSO Group should pay WhatsApp.

Tech Scammers exploited moms fears to steal her entire life's savings How to protect you and your loved ones from sophisticated scams Published December 23, 2024 6:00am EST close 'CyberGuy': How scammers exploited mom's fears to steal her life's savings Rising elder scams: How to recognize them and protect yourself and your loved ones. Tech expert Kurt Knutsson helps you outsmart the scammers. Imagine receiving a call that would change your life forever, one filled with urgency, authority and deception so convincing that even the most cautious could fall prey. Barb Gs story is one that no family should ever have to endure. She emailed us saying that her elderly mother, a former bookkeeper and a sharp, independent woman, fell victim to an elaborate scam that drained her life savings and exploited her trust."My 82-year-old mother was not only scammed out of her entire life savings, but after they drained her accounts, they then pretended to be the FBI. They told her she had been scammed, and they needed to protect her. They said they would be sending a car to pick her up in 20 minutes."The emotional toll of such elder fraud scams is immeasurable, leaving victims and their families grappling with feelings of betrayal, fear and helplessness. Here's how this particular scam unfolded and what you can do to protect yourself. A woman scrolling on her cellphone (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)How the scam played outThis was no ordinary scam. It involved manipulation, intimidation and psychological tactics so sophisticated that her mother was driven three and a half hours to a Bitcoin machine and coerced into maxing out her credit cards. As Barb further recounted, "After that, they dropped her at a hotel...told her not to call anyone or go out of the hotel for three days. They had someone watching the hotel to protect her."Even after her family rescued her, the scammers struck again. This time, they convinced her to hand over another $20,000, preying on the faint hope that she might still receive the promised $1 million. Barbs words echo a sentiment many families share:"Even when someone KNOWS they have been scammed, theres still a part of them that thinks the whole thing just might be real." A woman on her cellphone (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)The growing threat of elder scamsStories like Barbs are becoming alarmingly common. Scammers target older adults for several reasons: They often have accumulated savings, they may be less familiar with modern technology, and they are more likely to trust strangers. According to the Federal Trade Commission, seniors lose billions of dollars annually to fraud. The psychological toll is equally devastating, leaving victims ashamed, isolated and fearful. A woman navigating her cellphone (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Common tactics scammers useScammers employ a variety of deceptive strategies to exploit unsuspecting victims. Here are some of the most common tactics they use:Impersonation scams: Posing as government officials, law enforcement or family membersPrize and lottery scams: Convincing victims they won a prize that requires upfront paymentTech support scams: Offeringfake tech help to gain remote access to devicesRomance scams: Building trust over time to exploit emotional vulnerabilityEmergency scams: Pretending a loved one is in danger and needs immediate financial help Illustration of a tech scam (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Tips to protect yourself and your loved onesRecognizing the red flags is essential to avoid falling victim to scams. Here are some important red flags to be aware of.Unsolicited calls or emails: Be wary of anyone asking for personal or financial information. Legitimate organizations will not ask for sensitive information in this manner.Urgent requests for payment: Scammers often demand immediate action to avoid scrutiny. Take a moment to verify the request through official channels before responding.Unfamiliar contact information: Be cautious if the contact information provided does not match the official contact details of the company or organization.Untraceable payment methods: Requests for payment via gift cards, cryptocurrency or wire transfers are major warning signs. Reputable companies will not ask for these types of payments.Too-good-to-be-true offers: If an offer seems too good to be true, it likely is. Research and verify any claims before proceeding. Illustration of a tech scam (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)8 ways to protect yourself from being scammedProtecting yourself and your loved ones from scams requires vigilance and awareness. Here are eight effective ways to safeguard against scammers:1) Verify before you act: Always verify the identity of the person or organization contacting you. Use official contact information to reach out directly and confirm the legitimacy of the request.2) Limit personal information sharing: Avoid sharing personal or financial information over the phone, email or online unless you are certain of the recipient's identity and legitimacy.3) Invest in personal data removal services: Consider using a service that specializes in removing your personal information from the internet to reduce your exposure to potential scammers.Check out my top picks for data removal services here.4) Monitor financial accounts: Regularly check your bank and credit card statements for any unusual or unauthorized transactions. Promptly report any suspicious activity.5) Enable security features: Use strong, unique passwords for all your accounts and consider using apassword manager to generate and store complex passwords. Also, enabletwo-factor authentication for an extra layer of security.6) Be skeptical of unsolicited requests: Treat unexpected requests for money or personal information with caution. Scammers often create a sense of urgency to pressure you into acting quickly.7) Use strong antivirus software: Ensure your devices are protected with strong antivirus software that can detect and block malicious activities. The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.Get my picks for the best 2024 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.8) Report suspected scams: If you suspect you've encountered a scam, report it to your local authorities, the Federal Trade Commission and any relevant financial institutions.Kurt's key takeawaysScams are getting sneakier, but you're smarter. Trust your gut and remember: If something feels off, it probably is. Don't let the fear of scams isolate you or your loved ones. Instead, follow these tips so you can outsmart the scammers and keep your hard-earned money where it belongs: in your pockets. Remember, it's not about paranoia; it's about being prepared. So, next time you get that urgent call or too-good-to-be-true offer, take a deep breath and ask yourself: "What would Barb's mom do differently now?"Do you think the government, businesses or both should take greater responsibility in preventing elder scams and what specific actions should they take? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter.Ask Kurt a question or let us know what stories you'd like us to cover.Follow Kurt on his social channels:Answers to the most asked CyberGuy questions:New from Kurt:Copyright 2024 CyberGuy.com.All rights reserved. Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on "FOX & Friends." Got a tech question? Get Kurts free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Developing new drugs is risky and expensive. Creating a new drug and bringing it to clinical trials can cost billions of pounds, with no guarantees of success. And sometimes a drug can fail to meet expectations during a clinical trial in one part of the world, even though it was effective in another.One reason is the bacteria in the human body. Each person has a slightly different mix of bacteria in their bodies, and these bacteria are now known to play an important role in how well a medicine works or even if it works at all.Understanding that relationship is all the more important in cancer treatment, where bacteria in the tumour risk blocking potentially life-saving treatments.The relationship between drugs and treatments is extremely complex and hard to predict. But with a new drug, or asset, costing as much as $2.6bn to develop, being able to model that relationship is hugely important to both pharmaceutical researchers and clinicians.BioCortex is a specialist research company, set up to use advanced data science techniques to analyse the relationship between bacteria and drug candidates, with an initial focus on oncology and, in particular, antibody-drug conjugates.By better understanding how bacteria interfere with medicines, BioCorteX, and the drugs researchers it works with, aim to increase the success rate of drugs going through clinical trials. This should lead to shorter drug development cycles and more effective treatments for patients.One of the reasons we founded the company was the frustration that, when you look after people as a clinician, you spot that people respond very, very differently to treatments, and often its difficult to understand why, says BioCorteX co-founder Nik Sharma. We saw an opportunity for a stepwise change in how we think about drugs and pharmaceuticals. Bacteria, which are really integral to human health, actually underact with pharmaceuticals. We think that is one of the core reasons why drugs may work in an individual, but at a larger scale may fail.In clinical trials, a drug might be successful in one geography or population group but fail in another due to different bacteria in the human body.Better understanding that relationship, with the vast number of variables involved both the human bodys bacteria and the number of drugs being tested is, though, a vast mathematical challenge. The amount of bacteria that we have is phenomenal, says Sharma. The amount of pharmaceutical [treatments] is obviously large. The complexity is huge.Sharma and Mo Alomari, a Rolls-Royce engineerThis offered a way to look at bacteria and drug interaction, and Sharma andTo do this, the firm built one of the largest knowledge graphs in biology. Modelling the interaction between bacteria and a drug candidate involves 15 to 16 billion connections.This was beyond the reach of any commercial off-the-shelf database or analytics tool. So, BioCorteX builds its own, using Googles BigQuery. There is no software out there that can handle the knowledge graph of that size that weve been able to find, and weve looked at all commercial offerings out there, says Sharma.What weve done is build our knowledge graph using BigQuery, and thats what really allowed us to scale and, importantly, work economically, and issue new versions of our knowledge graph and merge those data two or three times a day.The knowledge graph has some three billion notes and 16 billion edges, all stored on BigQuery.On the graph databases, there are a number of them out there, says Alomari. Not one of them is able to handle the billions of nodes. So, basically, we came up with a bespoke solution built on top of BigQuery, where we added the layer on top that basically treats BigQuery as a graph database.If a scientist wants to run new data through the system, BioCorteX can do this several times a day at minimal cost. It takes approximately 20 minutes, says Sharma.BioCorteX takes data from pharmaceutical companies and runs it through the knowledge graph to identify possible bacterial interference in a drug, and how it might impact its effectiveness in a larger number of patients.The bacteria makes some drugs for some individuals incompatible, whereas theyre compatible for others, says Sharma. We can determine that interaction. We can determine what is compatible at scale. So, the product is really the ability to be able to look at those assets fast forward.The process is quicker, and of course cheaper, than a clinical trial. Nor is the BioCorteXs analysis limited to new drugs.What were also able to do is look at assets that havent been successful, says Sharma. You would have seen that a number of studies fail. Those drugs are often whats called out licensed, so another company will take them on and see whether they can develop them. Were able to look at those assets and see whether they failed because of the hidden interaction between the bacteria, the tumour and the drug.Read more about Google CloudWe survey the key cloud storage offers available from GCP, which include Cloud Storage, Persistent Disk and Filestore, with a range of service levels and app-specific options.Partnership with Europes biggest retailer will offer client-side encryption and ensure data doesnt leave Germany.This type of modelling is becoming more important as the development of medicines becomes more international. By using vast amounts of data, BioCorteX can run scenarios to model, say, a phase one study in Australia and then the differences between a phase two study in the US and Europe.Nor is BioCorteXs technology limited to cancer treatment. Although the current focus is on oncology, and bacteria, the approach is already being used to study viruses and fungi. The engines are applicable across different verticals; weve done some work in consumer health, says Sharma.What were able to do is provide further insights, he says. This isnt a choice. A pharmaceutical company or a drug company doesnt have a choice of whether this interaction is occurring its happening.So, they can either choose to understand it, or they can do what theyre doing now with a 96% failure rate. In the future, we hope we can offer the right drug, first time, for all.

To understand the significance of these approaches, it is essential to recognize the unique value each brings to modern cybersecurity.

Current Climate brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability every Monday. Sign up to get it in your inbox.The Associated PressCongresss last-minute scramble to cobble together a temporary budget deal last week underscores the likelihood that the year ahead will see major and messy changes in the legislative process and budgetary priorities. Among these, its widely expected that the Biden administrations big-dollar push to transition the U.S. economy to low-carbon forms of energy and transportation, the Inflation Reduction Act, will be pared back if not altogether gutted. If so, that would be unfortunate for a simple reason: its working.The $400 billion of IRA funds for clean energy projects and manufacturing enacted in 2022 is the single biggest effort to combat climate change in U.S. history. The goal was to help the country rapidly scale up production and deployment of large-scale wind and solar power projects, battery plants for electric vehicles and power storage and clean hydrogen projects. The results of that effort are becoming clear: domestic capacity to make solar panels has quintupled and theres been a big jump in large-scale solar deployments. Likewise, low-cost federal loans and IRA grants, matched with billions of investment dollars from companies like General Motors, Ford, Rivian and Panasonic, are powering an unprecedented level of U.S. battery production.For the battery industry, $110 billion has been handed out and cant be repealed, says Simon Moores, CEO of London-based Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. The vast majority will come online during the Trump 2.0 years, so whether President-elect Trump likes it or not, he will oversee the great U.S. battery boom.A White House briefing with reporters last week tallied up nearly 4 million new jobs created as a result of clean energy investments that have happened under Biden, and falling costs for solar power generation, upgraded power transmission lines and cheaper costs for stationary battery storage to hold onto more wind and solar energy.The motivation, Biden said on Thursday, hasnt just been to tackle the climate crisis. Together we will turn this existential threat into a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our nation for generations to come.Quick housekeeping note: This will be the last edition of Current Climate for 2024. Its also Amys last issue of Current Climate as she moves to the healthcare beat and switches to co-authoring the InnovationRx newsletter. Alan will be back with Current Climate on January 6. Happy holidays!The Big ReadDalan Animal Health cofounder and CEO Annette KleiserDalan Animal HealthThe startup vaccinating honeybeesHow do you vaccinate a honeybee? And will beekeepers care enough to do it?Those are the questions Annette Kleiser has been wrestling since founding Dalan Animal Health in 2018. Five years after launching the Athens, Georgia-based startup, the government approved an oral vaccine her team created thats designed for the worlds beekeepers to feed to worker bees, which then feed it to their queens in royal jelly. The result, strangely enough, is immunity for the queens offspring. Now, shes on a mission to get as many bees vaccinated as she can helping to safeguard not only the hives but the crops that they pollinate.We know that the loss of insects is dramatic for this world, Kleiser said. We cannot survive on this planet or anywhere else without insects.The Dalan vaccine defends against a devastating bacterial disease aptly named American Foulbrood, and Kleiser sees it as a first step toward keeping the roughly 3 million honeybee colonies in the U.S. healthy. Its not the only disease bees can suffer from; about 50% of colonies and millions of bees die each year from a variety of ailments, including a nasty parasite called the varroa mite devastating numbers for beekeepers.Kleiser and her team at Dalan believe specially designed bee vaccines that work against American Foulbrood and other diseases such as deformed wing virus are an important tool in keeping more bees alive, enabling commercial beekeepers to continue bringing them around the country so they can pollinate crops like almonds, blueberries, cucumbers and apples.The next step is to expand beyond honeybees to other invertebrates, starting with shrimp, where early tests are showing positive results. Its much, much bigger than the honeybee, Kleiser said. The honeybee is big because we need this animal to survive to feed us, but the science that is unfolding is way bigger than this.Read more hereHot TopicU.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete ButtigiegGetty ImagesTransportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Laws long-term impactWe dont know what will happen in the next administration, but what has some legs in terms of infrastructure accomplishments during your tenure? When it comes to those projects, I think about 14,000 of them are complete. There are 66,000 getting support, and many of them will be the work of many years. So we'll be looking forward as well as back at the results of the work that we did. What we know is we've launched a true infrastructure decade.One of the things I'm proudest of is not just the projects that are getting done, but the fact that long before the projects are complete, we have put people to work. The people I've met, veterans coming off active duty, students entering pre-apprenticeship programs who realize that good-paying, skilled jobs are ahead for them, years and years worth of work, regardless of whether they go to college. These are things that are really transforming lives in addition to the fact that the bridge or the tunnel or the airport will also affect people's lives once it's done.That's been really rewarding and maybe a story that was not told as widely as just the projects themselves.What Else Were ReadingThe CBO assesses U.S. climate change risksDespite Teslas wild stock surge, Musk turns to discounts to juice sliding salesPG&E gets a $15 billion loan offer from Bidens green bankFlorida workers died in the heat. Their deaths were kept from authorities.Ocean heat wiped out half these seabirds around AlaskaAs teenagers, they protested Trumps climate policy. Now what?Data centers are dragging Big Oil into the power businessU.S. Supreme Court to hear dispute over California tailpipe emissionsAI is changing how we study bird migrationHow this tiny town in Maine is keeping the lights on through ferocious stormsMore From Forbes

Creatio: Customizable no-code solutions for powerful CRM and workflow automation processes. gettyKatherine Kostereva has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the competitive world of enterprise software. Her company, Creatio, offers a generative AI and no-code platform for workflow automation and CRM solutions, empowering businesses to build custom solutions without writing a single line of code. But Creatio's path to success wasn't easy. Kostereva bootstrapped the company for six years, navigating constant challenges while relentlessly pursuing product-market fit.Her resilience and perseverance, coupled with a laser focus on customer needs, have propelled Creatio to a $1.2 billion valuation and cemented its position as a leader in the no-code revolution. It has earned high marks from Gartner and Forrester, which provide research and market analysis for technology, business, and IT decision-makers. The 2024 global market size for workflow automation is $25.22 billion and CRM $101.41 billion.CRM and Workflow Automation, No Coding RequiredCreatio's competitive edge lies in its unwavering focus on "time to value." This commitment translates into a platform enabling companies to swiftly implement automation and CRM solutions easily and reap tangible benefits within months, starkly contrasting the protracted timelines often associated with traditional software development. No-code platforms enable non-technical users to build and deploy custom tech tools to meet their business needs. This agility is paramount in today's dynamic business landscape, where adaptability and rapid response to change are critical for success.Creatio's evolution has been marked by a strategic shift in its target market. Initially, it catered to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Over time, the company changed its market focus to encompass larger enterprises, including industry giants in the Fortune 500. As it expanded, the company built deep expertise in serving the financial services sector. Creatio has made significant inroads in serving banks, credit unions, and insurance companies. These institutions require a delicate balance of robust security and compliance capabilities with the ability to adapt quickly to market conditionsa challenge that the companys no-code automation and CRM platform addresses effectively.With Creatio, we were able to grow our deal size by 60% over 5 years, described Jim Slomka, CRO at BSN Sports, a customer. The platform helped us to structure all sales processes and lead the enterprise-wide transformation of the revenue function. BSN Sports achieved 100% user adoption with Creatio and managed the 2,600-user deployment with a team of just three people.MORE FOR YOUKatherine Kostareva, CEO of Creatio, customizable, no-code, gen AI CRM and workflow automation ... [+] systimes.Gary Higgins / Boston Business JCreatio's success can be attributed, in part, to its strategic approach to growth. Despite attracting investor interest from its early days, Kostereva opted to bootstrap the company for the first six years. This decision stemmed from a desire to retain control over the company's trajectory, thoroughly validate the business model, and ensure a strong product-market fit before seeking external funding.It took us a while to get to the point where we understood exactly what the product-market fit is and the types of organizations who need our technology," explained Kostereva.This bootstrapping approach proved successful, laying a solid foundation for future growth. Creatio eventually raised $68 million four years ago and followed up with an additional $200 million in June 2024, propelling its valuation to an $1.2 billion.We couldnt be more impressed with the companys growth and the impact that Creatios platform brings to its customer community, said Sean Cantwell, Managing Partner at Volition Capital and a Creatio investor. Creatio addresses the complexity and inflexibility of traditional software vendors and enables organizations to seamlessly replace legacy technologies, delivering market-leading ROI.Bootstrapping A CRM And Workflow Automation Platform Her decision to bootstrap led to what Kostereva describes as the most challenging period in Creatio's journey. Bootstrapping meant operating with limited resources and relying on profits to fuel development. This required immense discipline, frugality, and a laser focus on delivering value to early adopters. Kostereva had to make tough decisions, often with incomplete information, and learn from every setback."It took us a while to get to the point where we understood exactly what the product-market fit is and the types of organizations who need our technology," explained Kostereva.This phase involved countless hours of trial and error, navigating a landscape where no-code workflow automation and CRM were still nascent concepts. The challenge lay in building a powerful platform that allowed businesses to build custom solutions without coding and identifying their ideal customer's specific needs and pain points.This period demanded resilience and a deep belief in the company's mission. Kostereva had to persevere through doubts, setbacks, and the constant temptation to take the easier route of external funding. It tested her leadership, vision, and commitment to building a sustainable business that could transform companies' operations.Ultimately, this bootstrapping phase forged a strong foundation for Creatio. It instilled a culture of resourcefulness, customer-centricity, and a deep understanding of market needs.CRM And Workflow Automation: Navigating ChallengesBuilding enterprise-grade software without code sounds great, but it requires robust security and privacy measures, scalability, reliability, compliance with industry regulations, seamless integration capabilities, and advanced user access controls to ensure secure, efficient, and adaptable operations across complex organizational environments. Kostereva understands this all too well.In the dynamic world of entrepreneurship, challenges like these are not merely obstacles but the essence of the journey. "In reality, I feel like at least nine out of 10 events that happen during the day are bad news. Only one is good news, Kostereva reflected.This constant barrage of challenges, from personnel issues to client demands, requires entrepreneurs to possess unwavering grit, and determination. Kostereva's ability to persevere through these challenges, fueled by her mission to bring no-code solutions to organizations worldwide, has been instrumental in Creatio's success.Immigrant entrepreneurs like Kostereva often possess a heightened sense of resilience, adaptability, and determination due to their experiences navigating the challenges of settling in a new country and building a life from the ground up. She is from Ukraine. These qualities, coupled with a strong work ethic and a drive to succeed, can contribute significantly to their entrepreneurial success.How have your life experiences helped you build your business?

In a nutshell: OpenAI is still working on ChatGPT-5, the next generation of the company's multimodal large language model, but the project is reportedly struggling. Not only is ChatGPT-5 behind schedule after failing to launch this year, it's also costing the company a fortune. It was reported back in March that ChatGPT-5, which will supposedly offer plenty of enhanced, additional features over the current GPT-4o model, was being trained by OpenAI and set to launch soon.The end of the year is just over a week away, but there's still no sight of the next-gen version of ChatGPT. The Wall Street Journal has shed some light on why.GPT-5, codenamed Project Orion, has been in development for 18 months at Sam Altman's firm. Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest investor, expected it to be released in mid-2024.The WSJ's sources say OpenAI has already conducted at least two training runs designed to improve the model by training it with huge quantities of data.Those training runs have not gone too well, according to people close to the project. The initial run was said to be slower than expected, suggesting a larger full-scale training run would take an incredibly long time, pushing up the costs even further. It was concluded that more diverse, high-quality training data was neededs as the public internet didn't have enough to make GPT-5 noticeably "smarter" than its predecessor. // Related StoriesOne solution OpenAI is trying is hiring people to write fresh code or solve math problems for Orion to learn from, essentially creating training data from scratch. It's a slow process: GPT-4 was trained on an estimated 13 trillion tokens. A thousand people writing 5,000 words per day would take months to produce a billion tokens.OpenAI has also started developing synthetic data data created by its current AI models to train Orion. We've previously heard warnings about the sort of nonsensical garbage these AI feedback loops can create, though OpenAI believes the problems can be avoided by using data created by o1.The internal turmoil at the company hasn't helped matters. CEO Altman was ousted before quickly returning in late 2023, and more than two dozen key executives have left OpenAI this year. Altman previously blamed the release of o1 for GPT-5's delay.The billions of dollars being spent on all things AI-related continues to climb higher investment that has yet to result in equal returns. OpenAI knows it needs to justify the expense of ChatGPT-5 by ensuring the model is a marked improvement over what came before, something that is proving more difficult as the internet's training data is being used up.

What just happened? An engineering team at Northwestern University has achieved a breakthrough in quantum teleportation, demonstrating the feasibility of transmitting quantum information alongside classic internet traffic. As research advances, we could enter a new era in communication technology, where quantum and traditional networks can coexist to offer unprecedented levels of security and speed. Engineers at Northwestern University have demonstrated quantum teleportation over a fiber optic cable already carrying Internet traffic. This feat, published in the journal Optica, opens up new possibilities for combining quantum communication with existing Internet infrastructure. It also has major implications for the field of advanced sensing technologies and quantum computing applications.Nobody thought it would be possible to achieve this, according to Professor Prem Kumar, who led the study. "Our work shows a path towards next-generation quantum and classical networks sharing a unified fiber optic infrastructure. Basically, it opens the door to pushing quantum communications to the next level."Quantum teleportation, a process that harnesses the power of quantum entanglement, enables an ultra-fast and secure method of information sharing between distant network users. Unlike traditional communication methods, quantum teleportation does not require the physical transmission of particles. Instead, it relies on entangled particles exchanging information over great distances."By performing a destructive measurement on two photons one carrying a quantum state and one entangled with another photon the quantum state is transferred onto the remaining photon, which can be very far away," said Jordan Thomas, a Ph.D. candidate in Kumar's laboratory and the paper's first author. "The photon itself does not have to be sent over long distances, but its state still ends up encoded onto the distant photon."Prior to this study, many researchers were skeptical about the feasibility of quantum teleportation in cables carrying classic communications. The concern was that the entangled photons would be overwhelmed by the millions of other light particles present in the fiber optic cables.However, Kumar and his team were able to devise a solution. Through extensive studies of light scattering within fiber optic cables, the researchers identified a less crowded wavelength of light to place their photons. They also implemented special filters to reduce noise from regular Internet traffic. Kumar explained that he and his team conducted a meticulous analysis of light scattering patterns and strategically positioned their photons at a critical point where the scattering effect was minimized. // Related StoriesTo validate their method, the team set up a 30-kilometer-long (18.6 miles) fiber optic cable with a photon at each end. They simultaneously transmitted quantum information and high-speed Internet traffic through the cable. The quality of the quantum information was measured at the receiving end while executing the teleportation protocol by making quantum measurements at the mid-point. The results showed that the quantum information was successfully transmitted, even in the presence of busy internet traffic.Looking ahead, Kumar and his team have plans to extend their experiments over longer distances. They aim to demonstrate entanglement swapping using two pairs of entangled photons, which would mark another crucial milestone in the development of distributed quantum applications. Additionally, the researchers are exploring the possibility of conducting experiments over real-world in-ground optical cables, moving beyond laboratory settings."Quantum teleportation has the ability to provide quantum connectivity securely between geographically distant nodes," Kumar said. "But many people have long assumed that nobody would build specialized infrastructure to send particles of light. If we choose the wavelengths properly, we won't have to build new infrastructure. Classical communications and quantum communications can coexist."

Facepalm: In what has become a weirdly common occurrence, restricted military documents have once again been leaked on the War Thunder forum. The latest reveal saw classified data related to the Eurofighter Typhoon's radar systems being posted by a user, who has been suspended for their actions. War Thunder added the Eurofighter Typhoon to the multiplayer game earlier this month. In the real world, the twin-engine, supersonic fighter is primarily used by the UK, German, Italian, and Spanish air forces.As is so often the case when new vehicles are added to the excellent free-to-play game (download it safely here), there were arguments on the War Thunder forum about just how realistically the Typhoon is represented.The scanning capabilities of the aircraft's CAPTOR radar system were one point of contention, leading to a certain user posting restricted material in an attempt to prove their argument.As reported by UK Defence Journal, the Italian Ministry of Defence, whose documents may have been cited, has previously stated that manuals like these are excluded from public access for both security and commercial reasons.As with similar previous incidents, the material was quickly removed and the poster has been banned from the forum. A community manager warned of the consequences of these actions. // Related Stories"I will take this opportunity to again remind everyone here, please do not, under any circumstances, try to post, share any sources unless you are 100% certain they are legally declassified and publicly safe for use," they wrote. "We will never handle or use them, and all it does is actively harm any possible future changes being possible by trying to use them. Do not do it. No good will ever come from it for you or the vehicle you are trying to post for."There are so many classified/export-restricted military vehicle documents posted on the War Thunder forum that these incidents have become a common sight. PC Gamer notes that September saw a technical manual for an AH-64D Longbow, an attack helicopter mostly used by the US Army, posted.Forum users have also posted the manual for the Eurofighter Typhoon DA7 and technical details on the F117 Nighthawk on the forum this year all export-restricted information.These sorts of leaks go back a few years now. Schematics of a Challenger 2 tank were posted in 2021. In 2023, restricted intel about the F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft appeared on the forum, as did more than a dozen technical manuals for the F-15E US strike fighter, a vehicle that wasn't even in the game at the time.In 2021, the War Thunder Instagram page probably said it best: "Please don't send us classified documents, we really don't want to end up chained at the bottom of a disguised CIA cargo ship in international waters."

Imagery from Googles Street View has reportedly helped to solve a murder case in northern Spain.Street View is the online tool that lets you view 360-degree imagery captured by cameras mounted on Googles Street View cars that travel the world.Recommended VideosA number of Street View images that were recently uploaded to Googles online service gave Spanish police an important lead in a case involving a Cuban man who went missing last year, the BBC reported. One of the pictures captured from a Street View car as it drove through the tiny hamlet of Tajueco about 90 miles (142 kilometers) northeast of Madrid shows what appears to be a body-sized bundle being loaded into the trunk of a car. You can still view the image on Street View.Another series of Street View images taken in the vicinity at around the same time show someone transporting a large bundle in a wheelbarrow, the BBC said. After examining the images and other evidence, police arrested two individuals last month, accusing them of involvement in the disappearance and murder of the man, whose remains were found in a cemetery two weeks ago.What makes the story all the more remarkable is that the images were captured during the first visit to the town by a Google Street View car in 15 years.The appearance of Googles car was terrible luck for the person loading the bundle into the back the vehicle, but a wonderful turn of events for the police. Its not certain if the man handling the bundle saw the Street View car pass by, but if he did, he will have immediately realized that images from the cars cameras would soon be viewable by anyone around the world with an internet connection. Including the local police.Its not the first time that Google Street View imagery has helped law enforcement with their investigations. In 2022, an Italian mafia figure whod been hiding in Spain for years was apprehended after being recognized on Street View, while in 2009, twin brothers whod committed a robbery in the Netherlands were also caught on camera by a car taking photos for Googles Street View service.Editors RecommendationsApple Maps for web adds Look Around, its Street View-like feature